ICYMI the inimitable billy joel has produced a new song.
back in the day, i got my albums via the columbia record & tape club. cr&tc was truly a racket based on the human inability to remember to say "no" via postcard once per month, and simultaneously, it was a cost-effective way to get recordings delivered right to the door. each month when my new billy joel or jackson brown or james taylor or dan fogelberg or supertramp or david bowie or reo speedwagon or eagles or cat stevens or barry manilow album would arrive, i'd put it on the stereo record player i'd saved money to buy from zayre's and i'd play it over and over and over again, with the lyrics (inevitably printed on the liner notes) in my lap, singing along and memorizing the lyrics, melody, and pocket.
some singers stay firmly in the pocket. the eagles, for example, due to the requirements of both tight harmony and the simple act of singing at the same time, stay in the pocket. barry manilow stays in the pocket...i don't have music theory training, so i can't say why he does this exactly, but it's got to do with the sound he's trying to produce. james taylor stays pretty much in the pocket as well. jackson browne tends to drag slightly behind the pocket, which i am guessing is due to his being sort of bluesy.
nearly always, billy joel gets ahead of the pocket. this makes it a real challenge to sing along, because you have to anticipate. eventually, i got pretty good at memorizing his timing, which can be like memorizing lyrics. it does make it difficult to just pick up one of his songs, but it's a fun kind of puzzle to get it right.
i haven't taken the time with the new song to really get it down. i want to do so, but you know, life is so different when you're a grown up...not different bad or anything, just that time gets allocated in ways that seem to stymie hours-long sessions pounding one song in the ol' cranium.
i did notice that during the piano solo, there is a touch of "italian restaurant". did he do that on purpose? a tie-in from that song seems to fit thematically.
in conclusion, i'm convinced all this singing along with men in the vocally formative years of my youth resulted in my being an alto. i mean, right?
